From The Heart Productions
Fiscally Sponsored Indie Films and Projects

Black men are threatened profoundly every day in White America but also work tirelessly to overcome the adverse effects of racism in their lives professionally and personally.

A boy living in the countryside in the 1950s, left alone by his friends and parents on his birthday, discovers a Jackalope. Though he pursues the mythical creature it alludes him, leading him on an obsessive search for the creature. The short explores childhood, innocence, and imagination.

She just wanted to be called by her name. After being asked out for a date by her platonic love, a 390-pound romantic and dreamy woman, who is bullied every single day, decides to lose weight for good. However, this will change her life completely in a way never imagined.

In an early Mars colony where pregnancy is banned and resources are scarce, an older Black scientist fights efforts to terminate her surprising pregnancy.

A man, Mr Skyness, is in the intensive care in the hospital, infected by covid 19. Suddenly a vision of a big bat appears at the window and he's drawn into a flight that changes his current circumstances.

Animation/metaphorical story inspired by the covid 19 pandemic, and the likelihood that the virus came from bats. It addresses the perspective of what can inspire human beings to change in challenging times, and the benign symbolism that can be perceived amidst a catastrophe

The Gift focuses on mental health and the traumatic impact it has on the individual and those whom they love. A chaotic family party erupts amidst a mother’s impending death to highlight the lack of support adult men sometimes encounter in coping with life’s struggles. The Gift asks the question of a society that often overlooks a person, who on the outside, appears to hold it all together. The film follows Nick's journey as he struggles to manage the end-of-life care for his mother while his siblings seem oblivious to the toll it is taking on his well being. The purpose of The Gift emerges as the story is told: Supporting and listening to those who deal with trauma, especially adult men.

When the world’s richest woman finally dies, her dysfunctional family gathers to see who gets which slice of the multi-billion dollar pie. What follows is a hilarious untangling of lies and betrayal.

The Heart of Long Beach is an anthology film where diverse cultures shine through the streets, uniting short stories of struggles, triumph, hope, pride, and love throughout the city.

A transformational film made to help us with the conflict of following passion while living reality.

An isolated teenager explores the past and his late father through the use of celluloid on his 16th birthday.

In 1942, months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, a Los Angeles journalist fearing another Japanese attack, reluctantly teams up with a Japanese-American photographer to investigate a string of recent unidentified aircraft sightings.

This film is a USC MFA Thesis film.

The Long Rescue, a feature-length documentary, begins where most trafficking stories end: after the rescue. Following teenage survivors in Cebu, Philippines, the film explores how girls can recover from deep violation to find stability, love, and personal agency. Over six years, they grow from idealist teens into struggling young women – sobered, but driven by hard-won inner strength.
The film opens at the hidden shelter of My Refuge House, where the girls are full of laughter and song, eager to work toward a brighter future. In a world shrouded in confidentiality and shame, these teens want to show their faces and speak their truth. But as they leave the shelter, ghosts of the past emerge.

A Texas rancher inherits his great-great grandmother's stone farmhouse in Gettysburg, and after finding a secret time capsule, he and his wife unlock mysteries of his grandmother's past that may or may not, should have stayed hidden.

The protagonist is Summer Ray, a free spirit struggling with a past that tries to dominate her and pull her back into the life of darkness she grew up in. Yet, an unexpected trip to the Gettysburg Battlefield changes the course of her life forever. She unknowingly helps to awaken the Union and Confederate Unknown Soldiers and comes face to face with an angry ghost, the Union Colonel McDaniels. The antagonist, Woeburn also demands her demise! Will faith win?

This is the third part in a trilogy of historical fiction films after "La Noche Antes" (2006) and "La Notte Prima" (2007). We explore what a public figure may have thought and said in an intimate conversation the night before they died. In "The Night Before" Black slave Sara Hemings fights for her freedom, and for that of her children with Thomas Jefferson, at the Virginia estate “Monticello” on the last night of Jefferson’s life, July 3, 1826. Opposing her is a White granddaughter of Jefferson, who tries to convince him to sell Sarah and the children on the slave auction block.

Logline:
Small town boy finds love through his Church and later, as an adult, suffers the loss of a guiding figure which shows him his true self.
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Studio 301's Mission:
Our mission is to tell stories on behalf of those who seek to do more good. “The Note” will become a portfolio piece for Studio 301 - a demonstration of our ability to elevate the voices of the most marginalized and vulnerable in our communities. Leveraged correctly, it will show others that we truly can make a difference through the art of storytelling. As the saying goes, no one trusts you to build a building until you’ve built a building.

Logline: When a person living with Alzheimer’s doesn’t recognize his wife and asks her to leave their home of twenty years, she must find a way back to care for the man she loves. Comps: This story is what you would get if you combined Still Alice with The Vow. The blend culminates in a heartfelt story of love, loss, and the strength of the human spirit. Tag Line: Their life together shattered before she could wipe the sleep from her eyes.

An exploration of end-of-life issues through the eyes of a mother and son. After a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and after a lifetime of being dominated by the expectations of others, Fran makes the most consequential decision of her life and wants to exercise some control over her life before all control is taken away. Her son Terry, struggling to accept it, wants to parent the parent and cast a deciding vote in his mother’s quality and duration of life.

"The Phoenix" is a short film about a young girl who acquires superpowers and tries to mend her parents' struggling marriage.

The Power of the Drum is a feature documentary exploring the mystical world of African-rooted drumming and its incredible power to heal, communicate, and transform through its complex history and rich culture.

The film traces its roots to the Motherland and its journey through the Middle Passage, which helped lay the groundwork for its development as a powerful healing instrument.

Radiant is a fantasy drama set in the land of Zoran. The story follows a humble Shepherd named Tristan who inadvertently saves a princess named Neriana and through the events that unfold, they discover a hidden secret that threatens to overcome their Kingdom of light with a deep darkness. Together they must uncover this mystery and stop the ancient power before it's too late.
The script was written to fit an indie budget. Though it is fantasy we kept in mind what would be practical to film on a low budget and believe that it can be effectively executed given today's filming capabilities.

The Road to Record is a documentary project that includes several films and book that digs into the world of recording studios and the people who own and run them. Stories that dive into the past, present and look to the future as the recording industry has seen so many changes in the last 40 years. Since the 1950s recording studios have long been the lifeblood of the music business. But with the home studio revolution and digital recording, a major shift has occurred with many cases of dying facilities, aging engineers, and a revival of analog tape, consoles and vinyl records.

Bethany, a young woman, decides to work on a secluded farm for the near future at the suggestion of an acquaintance. As she meets the others that reside there, she discovers that they are a group of like-minded individuals who, through therapeutic exercises, expel information from their guests. They decide she needs to get to the root of her problems, whether she wants to or not.

An investigative team goes in search of pre-Columbian treasure.

The lost gold Patecte of Ecuador is more than a piece of metal. Its symbols represent the identity of Latin America.

Synopsis:

Chordeleg, Ecuador, 1869. A treasure hunter discovers a pre-Columbian royal tomb. Its riches include a mysterious gold relief -- the Patecte.

Suddenly, the Patecte vanished.

Stolen? Hoarded?

Destroyed for its gold content?

Mislaid in a museum? Lost at sea?

The only proof the Patecte existed is an oil painting commissioned by Heduvides Serrano, the legendary tomb raider who discovered the Patecte.

The rest of the story is paved with double and triple-bottomed boxes

Logline: To accept duality is to earn identity....
Synopsis: Maestro Oliver Webb is the greatest pianist of his generation. When an amateur journalist afflicted with nervous ticks arrives at his home to interview him, he tries to throw her out but ends up relaying a story from his childhood and how he resolved his anxiety through the music of Joseph Haydn and magically uncovered his artistic genius.

The fate of civilization is uncertain as rumors spread across the land of an ancient evil king and impending war. Upon hearing such news, many leave their homes in search of a mythic sword wielded long ago by a hero known as the STEWARD. But the sword has been lost for centuries and the Steward of old has also faded into into myth and legend.

Whatever happened to that monumental dream to finally connect the USA and Russia across the Bering Strait? Ask the passionate team of seniors known as the “Strait Guys”, who have been fighting for decades to convince international governments, corporations, and indigenous tribes to greenlight their $100 billion railway project which promises to become the Panama Canal of the 21st century. As they struggle to keep their “peace, progress, and prosperity” project alive, the Strait Guys leave us wondering: What is really preventing us from being connected?

Dangerously depressed by the wintery midwest, a Millennial moves into a tiny house in sunny Arizona to restart his life. Friends think he's crazy to downsize away from the life he knows, and he wonders if they're right when finding a place to park his house becomes a nightmare.

"How a Maverick Inventor is Bringing Light and Power From Water to the World"
A 40 year quest for the unusual and "impossible" renewable energy source lands on a simple solution. One that was hidden in plain sight, this series will open the eyes of people of all ages and backgrounds to further innovation with the technology. It has the potential to replace solar panels and batteries with a non-toxic, regenerative fuel cell. Unlike solar panels and wind turbines, there is no end of life solid waste. As will be demonstrated in the series, it can be scaled from a single LED to household size.
Join us as we travel the World, sharing "The Gift of Light Equality"

The Weight of Honor is the first comprehensive documentary to chronicle the lives of families caring for their catastrophically wounded returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 
Over the course of five years we follow the arc of what happens when some of America's best and strongest volunteer to protect our nation, but return home physically and emotionally broken and disillusioned. What happens when they return is not only a personal journey but also that of their family caregivers who have no training other than the love for their wounded. 
The Weight of Honor tells the stories of strength, exhaustion, conflict, and even humor as these families chart a course through the unknown. 

A WINEMAKER with a cosmic secret must finish the year's vintage before her enemies come for vengeance.

When her mother is killed, a wayward daughter is drawn into the secret program her mother tirelessly maintained, in the interest of giving hope and help to others. Though the daughter struggles to believe in God, she finds herself amid an expansive supernatural program—matching mysterious visitors from the past to people facing present day challenges. It’s all this daughter can do to keep up the appearance of living a normal life while seeking redemption for her past mistakes.

Based on true events, this coming-of-age story follows Little Joe, a first-generation American Latinx boy growing up amidst extreme poverty and violence. Forced to navigate the underbelly of America to keep food on the table for his family, will Little Joe become another statistic or achieve the American dream?

Rose, twice widowed, secretly opens a business to prove to her family and friends she's a successful and important woman, and instead discovers her true gifts, her real worth, and best of all, love. Some say life begins at 50; for others it takes a little longer - Love blooms for boomers.

When a karaoke performance awakens a buried childhood memory, dive-bar owner Andy is forced to confront his past and accept responsibility for actions he believes changed the trajectory of his family forever.

Midwest — 1961. On his last shift before Christmas, MARION (30s) finds himself trapped in a collapsed tunnel with three fellow miners. He scribbles a farewell note to his wife and children on the inside of a cigarette package, unsure that help from above will reach their ill-fated group in time. The stillness is broken by an eerie, monotonous knocking that echoes from deep within the mine. While the others try to ignore the tone, Marion investigates. Above ground and miles away, Marion’s daughter TINA (9) practices her cursive at their local church. When she hears the same mysterious knocking, their joint pursuit of the sound cosmically intertwines them.

A rock climber from a sleepy town challenges himself to ascend to greatness on the world stage. Along the way, we meet his competition and the gatekeepers of the newest Olympic sport.
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Internationally ranked paraclimber Ben Mayforth eats, sleeps, and breathes rock climbing. He works at a gym where he coaches the next generation of climbers. He even built a wall in his backyard. The only thing standing between him and the number one spot on the global podium in Moscow is himself. Born with spina bifida, Ben has to work on his skills every day to make sure he doesn’t fall off the wall and lose his spot. Will this year be his year?

A group of young female human rights defenders and opposition politicians in an African country which name we cannot yet reveal, are currently subjected to persecution by their government. Our film follows their journeys from the moment they are seized by state agents.

Two single fathers Rick and Marc, head out to the wilderness for a hunting trip, but things take an unexpected turn when it’s revealed Rick suspects Marc of inappropriately touching his daughter.

In the presence of physical danger, a teenage girl must remain calm under pressure in order to survive the flight of her life.

Follow a blind acrobat and his unlikely group of friends as they learn to fly and find a new lease on life.

After losing his job, his wife, and a reason to exist; Guy, a former accountant for a scandalous corporation, faces his demons through a tape-recorded piano lesson left in his father’s will.

After meeting with his father’s lawyer, Guy, a former accountant fired for fraudulent accounting, receives a collection of audiotapes marked as his father's will. He discovers the tapes come together to form a piano lesson his father recorded. Determined to play through the piano lesson and engage with the art form his estranged father seemed to care about more than anything, Guy not only comes to terms with his resentment towards his father but also finds a new outlook on himself.

Trending Voices is the TV music special of the grand finale of the Trans Voices Festival. This will be a showcase of the various transgender and nonbinary groups throughout the USA. We'll be having celebrity performers and guests on the show, to help bring a large viewership, targeting the Millennials.

Scattered throughout will be info that helps audiences understand the history, science, and biology as to why trans people have this biological condition and need medical care, that it's not a mental illness. With all these divas coming together, we expect lots of behind the scenes drama, included in the show.

We'll have the best of the best in all areas of production and performance.

TRUFFLE SAUCE, a drama short, is about Tweet, a tattoo artist, who needs to pay one more tuition bill in order to graduate from community college to fulfill the agreement with her grandparents. Graduate = get a tattoo shop. But Tweet keeps letting life get in the way. Not this time. She's gonna sell the truffle sauce, pay her bill, and start over... for real this time. That is until a customer arrives and begins to push her into a setback. Ugh, not again.

Caught up in an attention-driven media landscape, idealistic journalists struggle to overcome public distrust, re-shaping the future of news publishing.

Trusted Sources examines the reasons many people don’t trust news outlets. We go behind the scenes to see how news is gathered and reported, sitting in on editorial meetings where decisions are made that determine what gets published. Trusted Sources demystifies the journalism process, reveals the factors that influence how – and whether – stories are covered, and provides the audience with skills for deciding what news to trust.

When a funeral in rural Quebec suddenly becomes a funeral for two, a young man reflects on his relationship with the deceased.

Two for One follows Thomas, who has spent his whole life in the US, as he attends the funeral of the Québecois grandfather he barely knew. Thomas has always regretted not having a better relationship with his grandparents. Over time, his poor command of French and a significant geographic distance have led to an emotional distance with his grandparents.

Now, back in his grandparents’ rural Québec village for the first time in years, Thomas finds that he has to confront his regrets while also being surrounded by an extended family who doesn't know who he is.

Ukraine is the only country in the world where fetal stem cell therapy is legal and regulated. After curing their first patient of bone marrow failure in 1991 using fetal liver cells, a group of Ukrainian scientists have learned to extract up to 24 different organ types of fetal stem cells and deliver them to patients. Aside from taking a deep dive on the science behind this technology, this story follows patients from the United States who have made the journey to Kyiv, Ukraine to be successfully treated for muscular dystrophy, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, and autism. The Russian invasion has complicated this journey. Eric Merola is the only journalist on earth covering this story.

1899 Texas; a grieving widow forced to take over the family ranch, while raising her children, battles a prominent landowner and his band of outlaws who try to run her out of town.

When Audrey is challenged with the safety of her two children, she forms an uneasy alliance with a rival rancher’s son.

After another public meltdown, a vain actress must submit herself into a rehab center headed by a mysterious hypnotherapist with radical techniques for breaking addictions and the ego.

"Unlikely Heroes" highlights the fact that the bravery of a selfless few gave birth to Israel. This historical truth has never had more importance until now. No other film has the potential to inspire a generation to stand up for Israel. Let's Go!

An institutionalized woman claiming to be Tennessee Williams' iconic heroine Blanche DuBois must unravel the tragic circumstances that brought her there.